New turn in Infringement case of Taylor’s “Shake It Off”

Taylor Swift decided to move for a summary judgment with aim of throwing out a lawsuit in which she was accused of infringing lyrics in her most loved chart-topping single "Shake it Off". The lawsuit was brought by songwriters Sean Hall and Nathan Butler in the year 2017. Brothers seemed to make claims that Swift copied lyrics from their song ‘Playas Gon’ Play’ without their consent. This song was performed by all-girl group 3LW in the year 2001.

The specific lyrics upon which the whole dispute rests are; “Playas, they gonna play / And haters, they gonna hate”. However, they were featured in the chorus of both Taylor’s ‘Shake it Off’ and Hall and Butler’s track. Swift had already filed a summary judgment with the US District Court for the Central District of California. However, the court agreed to the fact that the lyrics in the song were neither original nor protectable.

But this initial summary judgment of Swift was later overturned following an appeal made to the Ninth Circuit in the year 2019. This gave Hall and Butler another chance to pursue against Taylor. However, Swift further filed her second motion for summary judgment on the lawsuit recently. Her second motion was filed on the grounds that Hall and Butler failed to prove a genuine dispute of material fact.

“Copyright infringement requires, among other things, the copying of protected expression, and there is no genuine dispute that Plaintiffs’ claim of copying fails under this Circuit’s extrinsic test,” the motion said. Interestingly, Hall and Butler are not the only ones who are not happy with Swift’s‘Shake it Off’.A California-based songwriter named Jesse Graham said, “Swift’s single infringed on my song ‘Haters gon’ Hate’, which I wrote in 2013.”

Graham also sued Swift twice alleging her infringing of the song in the Central California court, first in the year 2015 and for a second time in the year 2019. Graham claimed, “Swift extensively copied my composition. My composition accounts for roughly 20% of Swift’s song, particularly the chorus.” It is undoubtedly very difficult for songwriters to take inspiration from others and not imbibe any lyrics into their own songs. Let’s see what will be the next phase of this case.